Hello to you all again. Well it feels like weeks since we last updated the blog, we have packed a bit in and it's all been great. Just a short update re Berry Springs swim which featured in our last blog. A couple of days later a front page article featured in the local Darwin paper stating that a salt water croc had bitten a swimmer at Berry Springs. A couple in the caravan park came over to us to tell us the news as they had seen us swimming at Berry Springs and when the German tourist declared that he had seen a croc. Apparently some brain surgeon the day before we visited Berry Springs had photographed the croc but had not thought to notify the authorities. So the day after we visited the Springs the same thing happened where someone stated that they had seen a croc. A female then swam towards where the croc had been sighted and she got too close and the croc 1 and a half metres long gave her a peck on the neck. She refused medical treatment and left the scene rather embarrassed. So as you can probably imagine we felt rather relieved that we had moved on when we did from the springs. Anyway it goes to show you that you dont try to approach wild animals especially if they are an ambush preditor and eat everything including their own kind.
Our last day at Darwin was spent with the boys friends Lachlan and Annabel (sorry Annabel for the wrong spelling in our last couple of blogs) and their parents Allison and Gary. We spent the arvo at the wave pool centre and had dinner at Darwins harbour area. We all had burgers which consisted of calamari, chicken, barramundi, kangaroo and camel, you could also choose buffalo, crocodile and the plain beef burger. No food poisoning was experienced.
As we left Darwin the next morning we drove to the Mary River area booked in at the Corroborrie Roadhouse. We drove a little futher up the road to visit Lyn and Bob, parents of my cousins wife Shelley. Lyn and Bob are caretakers for a defence force property. They treated us to a fantastic lunch and a tour of the property. As can been seen above the boys loved it. We left the property with some barramundi and bannanas. As you would know both of these items are prized and we almost needed an armaguard escourt back to our campsite. Thanks once again Lyn and Bob for your hospitality and hope to return the favour when you make your way to Melbourne one day. The next couple of days we enjoyed the barra and bananas, the boys have declared that barra is their favourite tasting fish knocking the flathead off from no 1 spot. It's fair to say that ever since tasting the barra the boys are dying to do some fishing for some more and I'm all for that.
That arvo we booked into a wetlands boat tour along the Mary River during sunset. We had a small group on the boat and were able to float up to some crocs sunning themselves on the bank within 2 metres. We were also treated to some bird wildlife and billabongs which had hundreds of the iconic lilly pads. We got to see the very stunning Jabaru bird up close.(pictured above) We watched the sunset and thoroughly enjoyed the tour.
The next morning whilst packing up we sighted the cleaner in the toilets with a little helper. The joey had been taken from her dead mum who had been hit by a car. Sue and the kids wanted to take it home. I was not convinced.
The next day we visited Ubirr Rock, this consisted of some aboriginal rock paintings and some great 360 degree views of Kakadu. This was the highlight of kakadu for all of us and the pictures dont do it justice. But here are a couple to wet your appetite.
Whilst at Kakadu we soon found out how ferocious the mozzies are. Benjamin and I faired the worst, I won with a grand total of 73 bites over the 4 days. The next day we visited Cahills Crossing at the change of tied. This crossing at this time is impassble for about an hour and the barra use this as an oppurtunity to cross the road (crossing). The crocs off course are one step ahead and wait on either side of the crossing with their mouths open in the water and as a barra swims past the croc clossess its mouth. We sighted about 5 or 6 crocs doing this and it was a feeding frenzie, very spectacular. The boys loved it anything with crocs in action is a hit.
We also tried our hand at barramundi fishing whilst at our campsite at Mardugal. It puts a whole different slant on fishing when you come across signs like this as seen below, it makes you wonder who is actually fishing us or the crocs. We all gave fishing a go crocs nil us nil which I spose is a good result. Apparently the water is still not hot enough for the barra to be out in force. I think we might miss the season by a month and will have to come back another time.
After leaving Kakadu we drove to Katherine and are currently half way through our 5 night stay. We are staying at a caravan park which has some hot springs a couple of hundred metres away from its back door. We visit these springs every afternoon before dinner and find it very relaxing. Today we went for a 2 hour walk at Katherine Gorge. The views are fantastic and the boys did a great job of negotiating the tricky rock paths at times. We also plan to visit some caves and other Katherine sights in our last couple of days.
Katherine has been a good time to make some repairs, our jockey wheel on the camper trailer was damaged whilst in Kakadu and a replacement was needed. Our battery which powers our fridge/freezer has been slow to charge via our car battery whilst driving, so we have bought a battery charger 240 watt which fully charges our battery in about 10 hours so it is ready to go when we stay at a non powered sight. We have also been told by one of our fellow campers that there is a recall on all current Ford Territory front suspensions, which we will get fixed when in Broome.
We have also been talking to a lot of campers re WA and have just about decided to spend more time in Exmouth and Coral Bay, lots of snorkling, fishing and layzing by the beach to be had and possibly not visit Monkey Mia at all as we've been told by a few people now (including you Paul/ Dad) that it's not as good as it used to be and Exmouth and Coral Bay are much better.
I hope all is well with you all and we will probably be able to update you when we are in Kunanarra in about 4 or 5 days time.
Speak to you then.
e
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